The Rising | Chapter Four

FOUR | LAST GIRL ON EARTH

No one lives forever
But that's no reason to give up
- Lana Del Rey


"I don't think she's coming back, Katie." Phillip chimes in, as I pace around the living room. Katie. Nobody's called me that in well over seven months; it soothes me when he reminds me of home.

Phillip's resting carelessly on the kitchen counter as if Maggie hadn't been gone for four days. Something terribly bad happened; I know it and he knows it but I can't believe it.

"No. She has to come back." I feel my heart beating through my chest and I can't stop fidgeting, and I hate when people fidget. "Want some Mapleroots?" I ask Phillip.

"I'm not thirsty." He answers, and jumps off the counter. "What is your plan if she doesn't come back?"

"She will. I mean, she has to..." I walk into the kitchen and rest against the counter. I blow away the strands of rebellious brown hair that have fallen in my face and contemplate the situation. I don't know what I would do if she doesn't come back. I can't take care of us. I just can't.

"Katherine," Phillip says with urgency, his eyes glued to the kitchen door, "There are people outside the cabin."

My heart tugs at me, and fear like I've never experienced before ravages my inside. I run towards Phillip, grab him by the hand and drag him behind me as I lead us towards the bedroom upstairs. A sudden burst outside fills the windows with a bright light and we are momentarily blinded.

"WHAT IS THAT?" Phillip cries out and I feel his grip tighten.

"Just stay close to me!" I feel my skin burn when the light touches it but I say nothing to Phillip.

I run up the stairs with Phillip behind me and we find shelter in Maggie and I's bedroom. I start moving furniture in front of the door and Phillip soon helps until everything in the room is blocking that entrance.

I tiptoe towards one of the windows and see the little one following me. "Phillip, stay away from the windows!"

"I want them to go away!" He yells.

"Shhh, I want to see who they are." I whisper, peering out of the window. Just when I look out, one of the four men turns his head and looks up straight at me.

Phillip continues with his eerie chant. "I want them to go away! I want them to go away! I want them to go away!"

I turn towards him and shush him. When I look back out the window, I find that all of the men have dissapeared. In a instance, they vanished. Phillip had wanted them to go away.

"How did you do that?" I walk up to Phillip and put my hands on his shouler. "Phillip, how did you do that?"

"I don't know. What happened? Did they leave?" Phillip shrugs my hands off of his shoulder and hugs me. "Did they leave, Katie?" I hear Louis just then. I hear sorrow and pain, and I can't have Phillip living this way.

I return the gesture and wrap my arms around him. I ruffle his untidy black hair and give him a kiss on the forehead. "Yeah, they left. I scared them away!"

"You didn't."

"Did so."

"Race you to the last Mapleroots?" Phillip says, looking up at me. A smile forms on his lip and it amazes me how much that makes me happy. I want him to be safe. What happened today opened my eyes; we need to arm ourselves.

"No need, you can have it. I'll go out tomorrow to get some more."

He gives me one last squeeze and we begin to remove all of the stuff we used to block the door. Maybe Maggie won't come back, maybe she will. But after tonight, I don't have to worry about it any longer.